October 13, 2010

Nat Baldwin’s most visible credit at the moment may be his longstanding affiliation with Dirty Projectors. But the classically trained bassist has been sawing away at bull-fiddle tummies for far longer than Dave Longstreth’s been serenading whales. Over the years, the New Hampshire native has appeared on the Department of Eagles’ In Ear Park, played casually with the likes of Deer Tick’s John MacCauley and slowcore collective Tiger Saw, and far more significantly, released one of 2008’s best and most underappreciared records, the chillingly intimate full-length Most Valuable Player. Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor produced that release, a bed record of 12-string panic attacks and mellifluous longings that yours truly once admitted “makes me want to fucking cry and I don’t fucking cry.” Ahem.

For the last year or two, it’s become a special occasion when Baldwin goes solo, but now that Dirty Projectors have returned from tour, Baldwin reports via MySpace (humble isn’t he) that he’s “starting to get back into solo mode.” That means performing live three times here in the next month: twice at Zebulon and once on November 11 at the Issue Project Room. Tonight’s at Zebulon and according to man who just answered the phone there, he plays first, which means he’ll be on 9:30. It’s dark in there, so feel to request his stirring Arthur Russell cover of “A Little Lost”–talk about making you fucking cry.